Brooklyn rapper 6ix9ine arrested on racketeering charges
Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was deemed a likely danger to the community and denied bail Monday after a prosecutor said there was evidence that he directed or participated in multiple acts of violence as part of a deadly gang.
U.S. Magistrate
Judge Henry B. Pitman concluded an hourlong hearing by citing “troubling” corroborating evidence offered by a prosecutor to show that 6ix9ine directed or participated in multiple acts of violence over the last eight months. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear said a backpack stolen during a gunpoint robbery in April was found during a raid at 6ix9ine’s Brooklyn residence, along with an automatic pistol.
“The defendant is quite violent,” the prosecutor said of a man whose debut album, Day 69, was among the most downloaded records on iTunes. Longyear said 6ix9ine was captured on surveillance video as he sat in a car and filmed the scene in Times Square when his co-defendants carried out a violent robbery against a rival gang member. The prosecutor said he was also part of a video boasting about shots recently fired by a codefendant in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Longyear also said the rapper was a threat to flee because of his worldwide connections, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and the knowledge that a conviction would bring a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years in prison and as much as life.
Pitman ordered 6ix9ine held until a Tuesday bail hearing, saying he was concerned about the danger to the community, particularly because the rapper could direct others to carry out acts of violence. 6ix9ine was among five people charged in an indictment containing racketeering and firearms charges. The indictment alleged that he participated in the July shooting of a bystander in Brooklyn and the gunpoint robbery of one of his gang’s rivals last spring. His lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said 6ix9nine - whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez - posed no threat and denies directing or playing any other role in violence.
Lazzaro said his client had fired some of his co-defendants as part of his management and security team last week and was offered protection by federal agents on Saturday after some of them were overheard on wiretaps threatening his life.